CCTV movie

15052007

As reported by the BBC, an Austrian filmmaker, Manu Luksch, has created and stars in a film made out of CCTV footage. The film, Faceless, was created from footage released under the Data Protection Act, which states that an individual is entitled to all data kept that relates to oneself, and depicts Luksch as the only person with a face in a faceless crowd (as she had to blank out everyone else’s faces). She reports that some controllers refused to give her her data, ignored her requests or, in one instance, demanded thousands of pounds for the film, showing their ignorance of the Data Protection Act.

In a world that is becoming increasingly more Nineteen Eighty-Four-esque, with cameras spying on us wherever we go, it’s interesting to see how film makers employ innovative new film techniques based on that system. I guess every society grows its own culture.